Comics as Art Therapy with Kate Lacour

Learn how to draw comics for mental comfort with Kate Lacour using a “treasure box” method inspired by surrealist Joseph Cornell. You can pick up a copy of Kate’s book Vivisectionary from our friends at Bookshop, where proceeds will help benefit The Believer and independent bookstores.

Watch the video of the livestream below and follow these steps to make your own treasure box comic.

For this workshop, you will need paper and something to draw with.

To draw a treasure box comic:

Step 1: Draw six panels on your page. They don’t have to be uniform in size!

Step 2: The prompt for panel 1 is: dump. Draw something from your “mental junk drawer”, something you want to dump or cast off from you right now.

Step 3: The prompt for panel 2 is: desire. What do you want, what do you need, or wish for, right now?

Step 4: The prompt for panel 3 is: gift. Draw something you would give away to someone else, or to the world

Step 5: The prompt for panel 4 is: gift. This time, draw a gift to yourself, something that you could give to yourself.

Step 6: The prompt for panel 5 is: hold. What is something you would like to hold?

Step 7: The prompt for panel 6 is: have. What do you have or experience right now?

We’d love to see your treasure box comic! Post it to social and tag @believermag and @katelacourart.

This workshop was supported in part by Zappo’s.